It’s a 2D platformer
Growing up, games likeJungle Hunt,Pitfall, andCongo Bongowere the equivalent to today’s “AAA experiences”. It was just a given that people wanted to play games about defenseless men in the jungle avoiding outrageous death traps. It was an age ofIndiana JonesandRemo Williams. A simpler time. A time that has passed.
Thankfully, we still get a fair amount of games of that ilk from smaller developers. The latest I’ve seen is50 Pinch Barrage, a game that’s marketing campaign seems to revolve around a man in a one piece orange jump suit wearing a hardhat screaming. Somehow this makes sense to me. For whatever reason, games about regular guys dealing with tense, bizarre situations never seem to go out of style in Japan.Incredible Crisis, Tomena Sanner,1001 Spikes,and now50 Pinch Barrageare just a few examples. They’re all paced with patterns of calm (soothing music) leading to tension (heavy breathing), then a little surprise death (screams).
In France, they sometimes refer to a sexual climax as “la petite mort“, which translates to “the little death”. Could all these deadly obstacle course games be metaphors for sex? I’m going to reach out to the developers of50 Pinch Barrageto try to find out. In the meantime, you can tune in toSup Holmes today at 4pm ESTwhen we talk to game developersNina “Hentai PhD“Freemanabout sex, metaphors and videogames. Its our intention to make it smart and sassy.
